Corporate events are important for companies of all shapes and sizes. These events help in building connections between companies and provide an opportunity to grow your business network.
Hosting a corporate event provides an excellent opportunity to strengthen your company’s relationship with clients, employees, vendors, and other stakeholders by bringing everyone together in one place. But how do you choose the right corporate event for your startup?
In this post, we will explore four corporate event ideas that work particularly well for startups looking to broaden their network.
The Importance of Corporate Events for Startups
When you are running a startup, corporate events can help make a great first impression on employees and clients. It will give you the opportunity to attract the type of employees you want to hire, and it provides a place for current employees to meet potential new hires.
Meeting new people is essential for young companies. If you do not yet have an office or company headquarters yet, corporate events provide a physical setting in which to meet with applicants, clients, potential customers, and other important people.
Benefits of Hosting Excellent Corporate Events
Hosting an extraordinary event takes careful planning and preparation to make sure that it runs smoothly from start to finish. However, once the plans are laid and executed, you will reap the benefits of an excellent networking opportunity that generates public interest in your startup.
Boost Team Morale
One of the most significant benefits of hosting corporate events is that they can help boost team morale. Team building activities like presentation contests or scavenger hunts are great ways to bring everyone together and develop teamwork skills.
Increase Company Exposure
The more clients and employees you connect with during your event, the greater chance you will have to increase your company exposure. You never know who you might meet at corporate events — you could run into an interested client or an exciting new hire.
Improve Productivity
With high morale comes heightened productivity. Hosting events is a great way to boost your team’s morale, as corporate events present opportunities to have fun and build relationships outside of work.
If you have employees who will be attending your event, encourage them to go and learn as much about your company’s industry as they can. Not only will this help them to achieve better outcomes at work, but it will also give your employees a deeper understanding of your company and the way it operates.
Improve Client Relationships
Your clients are just as crucial to your startup as employees and vendors, so it’s a good idea to have corporate events where you can meet with your customers. It allows everyone involved to understand one another better, as employees come face-to-face with the very people their work benefits most.
Build Trust
Corporate events allow you to get together with your employees and clients in a social setting. This will help build trust between everyone involved, which is beneficial for future business endeavors.
The Best Corporate Event Ideas
There are plenty of corporate event ideas to choose from. To help you reach a decision, we have picked out four of the most beneficial events for your startup. We focused on events where people get together and learn more about one another and build relationships with their peers.
Themed Party
One of the best corporate events you can host is a themed party. It allows everyone to be creative and come up with their own costumes, a guaranteed recipe for unforgettable memories. This also gives your employees something fun to look forward to at work.
It is crucial to make sure that you match your theme with the type of work culture you want to foster within your company. For example, if you are looking for a fun and laid-back environment, go with Mardi Gras or Hawaiian-themed. These events can be as formal or casual as you’d like, depending on the employee demographics of your startup.
Adventure Event
Another great idea is to host an adventure event. Adventure events are always fun and exciting because they allow your employees and their families to get out of the office and explore together in different ways. Plus, the memories they make will last a lifetime.
It is crucial to choose an adventure event that is not too strenuous or demanding so everyone can participate and have a good time. The best adventure events include camping, paintball tournaments, go-kart racing, a scavenger hunt, or even a company retreat.
It can be a little challenging to develop an adventure event that will work for everyone, but the memories and relationships built at these events make it all worthwhile.
Team Spirit Events
Team spirit events can range from escape rooms to murder mystery parties. It’s all about having fun with your team and creating memories they won’t forget in a hurry.
Team spirit events help to build trust between everyone involved, which is especially useful if you don’t know each other very well yet. These events also improve productivity since employees generally feel better at work after having fun with their coworkers.
Sports Event
Our final corporate event suggestion is to host a sporting event. This can be anything from playing volleyball in the park to going bowling at your local alley.
Sports events are always fun because they allow everyone attending the chance to blow off some steam and connect with one another through healthy competition. It’s always fun to play games with your coworkers, and sporting events are the perfect way to do it.
It can be challenging to come up with sports events if you are hosting the event for employees who work in different fields, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t enjoy themselves. Keep in mind that it’s important to think of a sport that anyone can participate in.
How to Prepare for an Event?
You should aim to prepare for your startup event in a way that is both time-efficient and cost-effective. One of the best ways to do this is by creating an “event checklist.” This list will help ensure everything gets done ahead of time, so there are no mistakes on the day of the event.
1. Choose a Theme to Tie the Event Together
A theme will help you narrow down the type of event and give your employees a creative outlet for their costume or team-building ideas.
A theme should reflect the company culture you are trying to build within your startup. If you’re looking to keep things professional, consider a cocktail hour or black tie as a formal themed party.
2. Create an Agenda for Your Guests That Includes Networking, Presentations, and Entertainment
A schedule will help guests stay focused throughout the event, and it also allows you to be prepared for any last-minute changes that may happen.
One way to keep guests interested is to include a presentation at some point throughout the evening which explains what you do as a company. This not only helps educate those who are attending on what they do, but it also enables you to gain more exposure for your company.
You may like to include entertainment at your event, but remember that too much can be distracting. You don’t want your guests getting up and walking around during networking time or while someone is presenting on stage.
3. Provide Food That Is Well-Suited to the Theme of the Event
Providing food is a clever way to keep your guests happy and satisfied while mingling with one another throughout the evening. You can use food as an opportunity for networking by having each table provide different types of hors d’oeuvres that get people talking.
If your event is a themed party, you should offer food that fits your chosen theme. If it’s an 80s themed party, for example, consider having fun snacks like Twinkies and Pop Rocks.
4. Pick Out Games or Activities for Attendees to Participate in During Breaks
Games and activities are a smart addition to your event, as they will break up the monotony of presentations and allow everyone attending the chance to connect with one another in different ways.
For example, when hosting an 80s themed party, you could have guests dress up in the most notable fashion trends from that decade and take their pictures for a fun photo opportunity. This is not only entertaining for everyone who participates but it can also be shared on social media to give your company a bit of exposure.
5. Invite Relevant People From Your Company’s Industry
Inviting relevant people to your company’s event is crucial, as it allows you to strengthen relationships with those who are already familiar with what you do. A great way to do this is by reaching out to those you believe would be a good fit through different platforms.
You want to make sure that the people attending your event can offer insight into what you do as a company. For example, if you’re launching an app for social media influencers, it would be beneficial to have influencers in attendance so they can learn about the benefits of using your product.
Corporate Event Ideas: Conclusion
Corporate events are a great way to gain exposure for your company and get employees more invested in what they do. At the same time, it’s important not to overdo things. Keep your plans simple and sophisticated to avoid losing focus of your event goals.
There are many corporate event ideas you can use for your startup, but these four are some of the best to try out. By looking at your options carefully and considering the type of corporate culture you have, the right event for your startup will soon become clear.